Now Or Never
by AlbaFan21
Summary: M/L AU Fic. After escaping Manticore, Max heads to Seattle shortly after the Pulse. In a local park, she meets a man, Logan Cale, never thinking that his memory would be burned into her mind for nearly 10 years. Please R&R.
1. Prequel

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This is the prequel, sorry it's short, the next chapter will be up soon. Very soon.   
~  
  
|||Disclaimer: All characers, locations, and subsequent events in the following work of fiction are owned and held by FOX Broadcasting, Cameron/Eglee Productions all work you are about to read is posted without permission from the aforementioned owners.  
  
This work is strictly for purposes of entertainment and tribute to that of the original creation owned, created and held by FOX Broadcasting and Cameron/Eglee Productions Thank you for your attention.|||  
  
Summary: AU Fic. After escaping Manticore, Max heads to Seattle shortly after the Pulse. In a local park, she meets a man, Logan Cale, never thinking that his memory would be burned into her memory for over nearly 10 years. Please R&R.  
  
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Now Or Never-Prequel  
  
The twenty kids lined up and the leader, Zack made sure that the coast was clear. He looked back and signaled them to keep going because no one was coming. They all began to hurry away except for one. Max looked back at her and signaled for her to come. Jace shook her head and Max again beckoned her to follow. Jace continued to resist so Max reluctantly caught up with the others. That made nineteen.   
  
***SMASH*** The kids broke the big window in the northern section of the building that looked out onto the Wyoming woods and started to run at blinding speeds. 


	2. Chapter 01

Now Or Never-Chapter 1  
***SMASH*** The kids broke the big window in the northern section of the building that looked out onto the Wyoming woods and started to run at blinding speeds. They had gone over the plan hundreds of times alone at night. They'd bust out, split up, and run to their rendezvous point, in the midst of the forest. Max lost sight of the others as she ran, but she knew where to meet, so she concentrated on making it to timber line. The giant spotlight had swept over many times, and she knew that they were aware of who she was and where she was.   
  
Soldiers on their snow mobiles and choppers were catching up on her, but the trees were not very far in front of her. Max heard the choppers fade away as if they had found something more interesting to look at. Max was wearing a hospital gown and no shoes as with all the other children. Max reached the tree line just as the light sweeps over her again. She looked up at the light moving away from her and continued. Max ran through some thick of trees into a clearing. Behind logs and tree trunks, several other children are crouched down hiding. She joins them wordlessly, exchanging hand signals with Zack. There are eight of them. A moment later, Jondy joins the group. After anxious waiting, and no more children show up, Zack began to pair off the kids into escape and evade teams. Max and Jondy are put together and soon after they all split up in their groups and run towards the perimeter of the base.   
  
Max and Jondy began to sprint through the trees. They reached a chain link fence topped with barber wire. Jondy climbed a nearby tree, runs out along a limb. She leaps out into space, grasps the top row of the wire and does a gymnast's move over it, into a perfect dismount in the snow. Max follows and does the same stunt.   
  
Max landed in a rather high snowdrift and whirled around to see soldiers attacking Zack. She wanted to go help him; she never wanted to leave him in the first place. Jondy grabbed her arm and encouraged her to come along, and she did.   
  
~~~~  
  
You like?? Please R&R!  
AlbaFan2 


	3. Chapter 02

Here is Chapter 2  
  
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Max trailed Jondy by a couple feet as they ran at top speed through the snow. Suddenly, ice over a pond beneath Max gave away. Jondy stopped and went back to pull her out. She laid on the ice and reached out. Max grabbed Jondy's hand, but as she pulled herself up out of the hole, the edge broke away and Max fell back into the freezing water. Jondy looked up worriedly at the sound of snowmobiles, as the spotlight ran through the trees toward them.   
  
"Go on... GO!" Max urged Jondy to leave.   
  
"No. We stick together." Jondy wasn't about to leave Max there.   
  
"Go, Jondy. I'll find you, I promise." Max took a big gulp of breath and disappeared under the ice and Jondy ran back in the direction they were headed in.   
  
Suddenly a hummer pulled up by the pond. Lydecker steps out and is confronted by another man. The man tells Lydecker that they've caught seven kids, two of them are dead. Lydecker told him to get them and it was to mean BIG trouble if one of the chimeras were caught. He watched the man scurry away and lit a cigarette. He re-entered the truck and drove off, but he didn't noticed that where he had been standing Max was under the inches of ice.  
  
********  
  
Max had been in Seattle for about 4 months. It had been a year since she broke out of that hellhole. She had been traveling around the western side of the U.S. trying to find a place to stay. Seattle seemed like a good place to crash, she didn't have to worry about finding a place to stay because there were so many abandoned places since the pulse.   
  
She had been in Oregon when the pulse hit. She was napping in a pile of cloth pieces that she had gathered for a "mattress" in an abandoned shack in the outskirts of Salem. Once the pulse came, and everyone was going all whacko, she decided to split. A month later, a skinny girl with deep brown eyes and shoulder length wavy hair walked into Seattle.   
  
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Ok I put three installments on here, now I'll put more if and/or when I get reviews. 


	4. Chapter 03

Now Or Never-Chapter 03  
  
After walking for a long time, Max came to a lake. There was a sign next to it that read 'Green Lake'. It was the best looking thing she had come upon so far. Not too far away was a zoo... or what used to be a zoo. Most of the animals had gotten loose with the chaos of the pulse.   
  
Max wandered aimlessly through the 'zoo' and found herself on the other side of it. It was a fairly big place, but there weren't too many things to look at anymore. She began to walk along the side of the highway going south. It was the way she had just come, but oh well.   
  
After about an hour of walking without speed, Max saw another sign that said 'West Seattle'. It looked like people over there were sain for the moment, so she decided to look over there. Max followed a street called '35th avenue south west' until she saw abuilding that was very pretty to her. The windows were like mirrors and that's all there was.   
  
The building was on the corner of 35th avenue and another street called barton. There actually seemed to be electricity in this one. Max thought that if you lived in a building like that, you'd have to look at yourself more often, and it'd be easier to accept yourself. She knew that she wouldn't be able to live in that one, but whever she did live, she's be sure to have a mirror handy at all times.   
  
Max pried her eyes off the building. It was looking even more interesting because of the orange color of light that the sun was giving off because of the dusk. She knew that she ought to find a place to stay overnight so that the crooked people that came out at night wouldn't do anything to her... or *try* to do anything to her. She decided to screw it when she saw another park. It was really close to the water, she could just jump in if she wanted to. There was a lot of jungle gym structures and it looked like a lot of fun. There were a lot of other kids still there. Even in such a disaster these kids could find time to have fun.   
  
Max only watched, though. She saw a man sitting on a bench on the other side of the sadny play area. He looked about 20 or so, and he looked rather nice compared to the crazy people running around screaming "OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD!" in the streets everywhere else. The kids slowly began to leave one by one as it grew darker. Max watched the man for a long time and saw the he was doing the same. It was probably the four inch long hari or the statue-like expressionless face, but he seemed to be uninterested in that.   
  
Max took her eyes off the guy and let them lie on the glittery ripples on the water. After a while, the man got up and walked away. Once at the street, he looked behind himself to see Max watching him again. 'Who is that? Oh well, I have a date with Valerie in ten minuets.' He thought as he walked towards the mirrored apartment building.   
  
~~~~  
  
Ok, here is Chapter 3, since they're short chapters, I'll post them probably two at a time everyday...or something like that. please R&R!  
AlbaFan2 


	5. Chapter 04

Now Or Never-Chapter 04  
  
Max had gone to an abandoned apartment building a few blocks away to sit and think. She didn't sleep, so to hell with being safe. It was a run down place that looked like the previous owners were killed in it. Well, maybe not *that* bad, but it wasn't like the building with windows. She wished she could go inside. She wished she could talk to that man. He was kinda good looking even though he was quite a bit older than she.   
  
The next morning, Max went down to a place called the "Strip" where a bunch of shops were. It was so soon after the pulse, but people were still trying to get some chedda even though the gangsters usually took it away. They were the only successful people in the whole place. 'Gee', she thought, 'I wonder why...'   
  
Max saw that man and ducked behind a rack of coats. She then stepped out, not quite knowing why she hid. The guy saw her and walked up to her. "Hey, didn't I see you in the park?"   
  
"Yeah, I think so."   
  
The man was taken back at how stern this little girl was. "Oh. My name's Logan, what's yours?"   
  
"Max."   
  
"Just Max?"   
  
Max looked at a coat with a tag saying "Guevera" and answered. "Max Guevara."   
  
"Interesting name, Max. Just Logan Cale here, nothing special. So I guess I'll see you around."   
  
"Yeah." Too bad it'd be illegal if she got with him, and a little disturbing too. But he was so damn nice.   
  
-*--*-**-*--***-*-*-   
  
Logan was having the best day of his life. He had just purposed to Valerie and she said yes! Life was really treating him right these days. Screw the pulse. And now Logan was sure he'd be able to get her to stop drinking. She didn't have a very big habit of it, but she'd be better off without alcohol.   
  
****  
  
~*~Hay25~*~--thanks, here are the next two chapters, enjoy! ~*~Yup~*~--lol, ok i'll post two at a time, because it's all already written, ok?! thanks for the review. ~*~Ice Princess~*~--thanks!, here is more! ~*~Angel Runner~*~--thanks!  
  
PLEASE R&R!  
AlbaFan2 


	6. Chapter 05

Now Or Never-Chapter 5  
  
Logan had failed horribly. He thought he could keep Valerie from being a drunk, but he couldn't. He just couldn't. She would lash out and become irrational whenever he brought it up.   
  
It had been four long years, and she only got worse. Logan didn't even know who she was anymore. She wasn't the woman he had loved once. Logan knew what he had to do.   
  
"Divvvorth? Whaddaya mean you wanna divvvorth?" She had managed to slur.   
  
"You know what I mean Valerie."   
  
"I looove ya baaaby. No divvvorth. Kith meee."   
  
"No, Valerie. I'm going to ask you one more time to get your belongings and get out."   
  
She seemed to suddenly snap out of her drunken state and into sobriety. "Fine then." As if she were only acting drunk off her a$s.   
  
*********************   
  
"Go Sketchy!! Whoooooo!" Max clapped as she watched her friend balance on his bike on one wheel atop the bar in her favorite club, Crash. So she was only 15, no one could tell. He friends were mostly 17 or 18, but no one really cared about underage drinking after the pulse.   
  
She met Original Cindy, Sketchy, and Herbal about 4 months before now. They were awesome. Cindy was a lesbian who understood the human heart, herbal was a Jamaican Rastafarian, and Sketchy was basically a perv with a one-track mind.   
  
Over the years, Max had managed to stay under raps and hadn't heard anything from Manticore after the pulse. She still lived in fear of the hover drones and suffered horrible flashbacks, not to mention the seizures. She couldn't escape Manticore mentally, but having such goon friends sure did ease the pain of harsh reality.  
  
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Ok, so this was chapter 5, and 6 is not far behind. Please R&R. 


	7. Chapter 06

ok, this one is a bit longer than the other ones, but it's not that long still. and i hope that i am passing these 10 years ok, the stupid voices i hear all the time tell me that it's fine, and to just post the thing, but like i said, they're stupid. enjoy, please R&R   
  
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Now Or Never-Chapter 06  
  
"Happy Birthday dear Maaax... and we hope you get some!!" The entire club sang to Max on her 19th birthday. Including a ton of guys whom she didn't know.   
  
Max sat in her chair and covered her face with both hands. Her entire body shook with uncontrollable laughter.   
  
Suddenly, for no reason at all, Max's mind jumped back to almost ten years ago-when she was sitting on that bench watching that man watch her, and when she saw him the next day. What was his name? It started with a... 'L'. Luke? Lane? L--....OGAN! "LOGAN!!" Max accidentally shouted out loud.   
  
"What, boo? You gotta feva on your birthday?" Cindy eyed her and put a hand on Max's head.   
  
"I gotta blaze. See you at work tomorrow."   
  
"Aiight. Lunatic."   
  
Max rolled her eyes. She didn't know why she was leaving her own birthday party. She felt like she *needed* to go back to that park. She didn't know why, but she just felt like she had to go there.   
  
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Logan's life had definitely taken a turn for the better. About two years ago, he started Eyes Only. He dedicated his time to protect the downtrodden instead of sulking the aftermath his divorce.   
  
That night, he had been satisfied with the information that he had received on a major criminal named Raúl Lopez. Major gang member who cheated the poor out of their little bits of money for false drugs such as glucose, and certain vitamins that were hard to get after the pulse.   
  
Logan felt like he needed to stretch his legs. He hadn't been to that park in a long time. Maybe he oughta go there.   
  
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Max arrived at the park in about 20 minuets on her fast moving motorcycle. Her baby. She looked at the park. 10 years hadn't shown on it much, except for the lacking of children, although it was 12:30 at night. She sat down on the bench and felt a sense that someone was coming. She sat just where she was. What was the harm of relaxing.   
  
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Logan got to the park and looked around. Hadn't changed much, except a little rust. The last time he remembered coming there was that night he saw the girl.   
  
He had completely forgotten about her. What was her name? Max, was it? Yeah, Max. He briefly wondered what had become of her, but then changed his attention to a girl sitting on the bench.   
  
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Max looked over her shoulder and saw something that caused her to stop breathing. Was that him? Was that Logan? 'Wait a minute, why do I care? Wow, he looks good...'   
  
She turned back around and erased the thought from her mind. Next thing she knew, Logan was sitting next to her on the bench.   
  
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'Is this her? Is this that quiet Max?' Logan asked himself as he sat down next to her. "Beautiful night." he somewhat muttered. He wanted to see if her voice was the same, to see if it was her.   
  
"Yep." She answered. 'God, he's so nice. Hasn't changed much, I guess, I didn't really know him.' "Strange thing about Seattle. Crappy during the day, when you can see everything that goes on, but there are beautiful nights."   
  
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~*~Cat452~*~ thanks! got the next two up, and if im feeling energetic, there might be more today. ~*~ YUP~*~lol, ok i promise i wont ;) ~*~ballymay~*~ thanks, here's more! ~*~Angelbebe~*~ lol, m/l = *thumbs up*...there's an teeny tiny bit of m/l-ish-ness...but there is a sequel, and there's more there :D ~*~chiancat87~*~thanks, enjoy! ~*~Gabbie760~*~ thanks!!! there's more, obviously since if yer reading this, you already read the next chapters. ;) 


	8. Chapter 07

Now Or Never-Chapter 07  
  
"I guess that's why I've stayed in Seattle so long. I am kind of a night person." Max said. She still hadn't looked into his eyes, hadn't seen the question in them.   
  
'Oh my God. Why do I feel like this? I feel like I've known her and had been with her for all those ten years, not completely forgetting her. Like this is how my life was supposed to be. Have I lost my mind?'   
  
"Night is my favorite time, I can think about how messed up my life is undisturbed." Max looked over at Logan and he looked at her also. 'Holy crap... look at those peepers. This guy's got some looks. He's so... interesting.'   
  
"Messed up? Join the club." He said with a smirk.   
  
"Already in it." She grinned back. Max turned her eyes back to the night sky. She didn't want to seem like a fool staring at a complete stranger like she was in love with him.   
  
"Messed up is basically how to describe the world today. But we're making it."   
  
"Yeah but if the world was as messed up as I am, we'd be in some seriously deep cr-" Max stopped talking suddenly and whipped her head around. Someone was listening. Someone who shouldn't be. "What the..." Max said as she got up and walked over to a tree.   
  
"Everything ok?" Logan asked.   
  
"Yep, just got a little bit of an issue with someone here." She walked up to a tree and jumped on to the first limb-10 feet in the air. Logan heard a man's grunt and then saw someone fall to the ground on their side. Max jumped out of the tree onto her feet and stood up the guy harshly. "You gotta problem? I was have a conversa-Kyle? What the hell are you doing following me around?" Kyle. The latest 'fling' while harshly gripped by feline DNA. Yipee.   
  
"I just wanted to make sure some other guy didn't get my girl."   
  
"Your girl? Since when am I your girl? Go home, Kyle, you're smashed."   
  
"But I love you baby."   
  
Max hit him up side the head. "You better get away before I..." Max said through clenched teeth. She stopped talking with her hand in a position to hit him and slowly let her eyes slip over to Logan. "Hurt you badly." 'Shit. I just jumped ten feet into the air in front of him.' Kyle hung his head childishly and walked away.   
  
Max walked back over to Logan not knowing what to expect. "Nice jumping abilities" He said.   
  
"Good reflexes?" She said as a question smiling innocently. "O told you I was messed up and if you think jumping high is bad, then you'd better not ask about anymore." 'It's hopeless. He doesn't look like the kind of person who'd just give up.'   
  
"I never said I thought it was bad."   
  
Max sat down and let her expression drop. She lowered her voice and turn towards Logan. "Okay, I'll tell you but I have people that I have know for almost five years and they don't even know. I don't even know why I'm going to tell someone who I don't even know. And let me just say that if you even have the thought of spilling this go through your mind, I will personally kill you with great pleasure."  
  
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ok, there's chapter 7, enjoy! 


	9. Chapter 08

Now Or Never-Chapter 08  
  
Logan blinked. Max looked at her hands. "This is going to sound weird, but this doesn't surprise me at all."   
  
Max looked at him wide-eyed. "What do you mean?"   
  
"Your brothers and sisters. I am working with a few of them to try and take down Manticore."   
  
"No way! You mean to tell me that I have been in the same town as my long lost brothers and sisters for a couple years now? How many of them?" Max almost fell off the bench in amazement.   
  
"Jondy, Krit, Syl, Ben, Tinga, Jace, Zane. Seven. Now hopefully eight."   
  
"Damn straight, you've got eight. How did you get tangled up in Manticore in the first place?"   
  
Logan looked around to see if anyone was around. "I ran into Tinga in the market one day while she was looking for tryptophan. She pulled up her hair in frustration at the vendor while she was trying to bargain with him. I saw the barcode. A few days later, I was around the strip at one or two in the morning on a …walk and saw her kick some major ass. She saw me and threatened to kill me. I told her I knew who she was and that I could help her. She knew where Jondy and Krit were, and with a little computer work, we found the others. That was... about two years ago."   
  
Max was a little dumbfounded at the story Logan had just told her. Two years? Her siblings had been walking amongst her for TWO YEARS? "Wait, Jace didn't come with us. How did she get out?"   
  
"She escaped in 2013, similar to the way you guys originally did in '09." Logan looked at Max who seemed to be almost dying on the inside. "What's wrong?"   
  
"All this has happened and I didn't even know. I didn't even try to find out." A tear fell down Max's cheek. Logan wiped it off resulting in Max looking into his blue eyes. Her stomach did somersaults as she stared into those blue oceans.   
  
"It's ok. Listen, those guys are back at my place. You want to go see them?"   
  
Max's eyes lit up. Little did Logan know that it wasn't only because she was going to see her brothers and sisters again, it was because she was going back to the building with mirror windows. She felt like a two year old, and she was a little embarrassed. "Yeah."   
  
-----   
  
"Oh, that's great!" Jondy choked out inbetween laughing fits as she watched Krit and Zane wrestle over the last fortune cookie.   
  
"Men, oh my god! They're so funny!" Tinga managed to say.   
  
"Both of you are so dumb! But it's really amusing!" Jace laughed.   
  
"No, both of you are full of too much testosterone." Said a calm voice. All seven heads turned towards the door into the living room as the laughter immediately stopped.   
  
"Max?" Ben whispered. All the others exchanged glances before rushing to Max to hug her and drill her with questions.   
  
"Where ya been little sister?" Syl asked.   
  
"Yeah, how's it been going?" Krit asked as Max sat down on the big comfy couch.   
  
"Where did you get your hair cut?!? It's so cute!" Jace squeaked. Max looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "What? I like you hair."   
  
"So ya gonna talk or are you just going to sit there all night while we waste our breath?" Jondy asked her from behind her.   
  
"I'll talk." Max said as she began her story.   
  
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~*~HAY25~*~ thanks, wait and see lmao! ~*~CASS~*~ thanks, there'll be some m/l now, but only the slightest hint of a little bit. There's a second story to this, and there's more and more m/l :) ~*~CONNIE~*~ thanks, im putting up more up now! maybe....3 chapters today?? ;) ~*~ chiancat87~*~ lol, your wait is over, here's more. :p ~*~AYELYN LAUREN~*~ yeah, i set that up, to make her! lol, im torturing max, what can i say? j/k, thanks for the review ~*~HAY25~*~ here's a few ;) ~*~darkness~*~ thanks, i like that quote too, i just had it as 'strange thing about seattle, crapy days, and beautiful nights' and then the dirty part changed because i went to seattle, and fell in love with it, and they're really not crappy days. btw, love your name. ~*~GREENLASHES~*~ thanks, here's chapter 8, and a few more also! ~*~GOZAR~*~ thanks! ~*~ballymay~*~ he he he, here are a few more. ;)  
  
im putting up probably three chapters today, most likely the end of the story...if i do get to the last chapter today, watch for the sequel, called "Never Say Never"! Thank you for reviewing!   
  
AlbaFanTwo 


	10. Chapter 09

It's short..sorry. :)  
  
Now Or Never-Chapter 09  
  
Max looked around. Tinga, Ben, Jace, Zane, Syl, Krit, and Logan were all asleep. She and Jondy were still awake, as they were the two who had the shark DNA and didn't sleep. Max couldn't help but look at Logan every once in a while, and after a bit, Jondy noticed. "You like him, huh?"   
  
"What?" Max said, as she wasn't listening because she was thinking about something else.   
  
"My point exactly." Jondy said smiling and shaking her blonde head a bit.   
  
"What did you say??" Max questioned. She didn't know what her sister was making fun of her for, and it was beginning to get to her.   
  
"Oh, just that you are ga-ga over Logan, and it's obvious." Jondy smirked.   
  
"What are you talking about? I met him, what? Three hours ago? How could I be ga-ga over him after three hours?" Max said innocently.   
  
"Easy, it's been four hours."   
  
"Whoa." Max said sarcastically.   
  
"You ever hear of a thing called destiny?" Jondy said matter-of-factly.   
  
"Bite me, Jondy." Just then, Zane woke up.   
  
"Bite who?" He said groggily. It was a line he heard often being the clown of the group.   
  
"Go back to sleep Zane." Zane obeyed and laid his head back down.   
  
"So, what about destiny?" Max said as she laid her head down on the heel of her hand.   
  
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	11. Chapter 10

Now Or Never-Chapter10   
  
"Destiny, you know, meant to be." Jondy explained.   
  
"Yes, I know what it MEANS, I wanna know what you think it has to do with me and Logan." Max said while looking over at the sleeping Logan.   
  
"I think you're meant to be. I mean you met, what, 10 years ago, and then somehow you met in the same place at about the same time of day, and frankly I think you're a cute couple..." Jondy said glancing over at Logan also. He flopped an arm over his eyes as the light from the window poured onto his face.   
  
"I dunno, I think that you're talking outta your ass, but that's me." Max said smiling a little.   
  
"O.K." Jondy said. "I have to pee." She said as though it was a great discovery.   
  
When Jondy left the room, Max looked again over to Logan and saw that he was starting to wake up. He rubbed his eyes and looked around as if to question why he wasn't asleep in his room where he belonged. Then his eyes fell on Max and he smiled at her. She almost sheepishly smiled back, and Max was never sheepish.   
  
Their eyes stayed connected for a moment, until Krit stirred. Max looked over at him as he jokingly said, "Oh, you're still here," acting disappointed and Max threw a pillow at him. Ben, whom no one had noticed was awake jumped up from behind Krit and began to wrestle with him. The females awoke a minuet later and were rooting for their brothers but Max and Logan were silent as their eyes stayed connected and billions of words were shared through that glance.   
  
'Maybe I can be friends with this destiny thing.' Max thought as Jondy snuck up and whispered innocently in Max's ear, "I told ya so."   
  
END  
  
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ok so that's it, but there is a sequel, if you want it up, please tell me, and ill put it up ;)   
  
AlbaFanTwo 


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